Retaining walls are commonly employed to retain highly positioned soil, such as soil forming a hill, to provide a usable level surface therebelow such as for playgrounds and yards, or to provide artificial contouring of the landscape which is aesthetically pleasant. Such walls have been made of concrete blocks having various configurations, the blocks generally being stacked one atop another against an earthen embankment with the wall formed by the blocks extending vertically or being formed with a setback. Setback is generally considered to be the distance in which one course of a wall extends beyond the front of the next highest course of the same wall. Concrete blocks have been used to create a wide variety of mortared and mortarless walls. Such blocks are often produced with a generally flat rectangular surface for placement onto the ground or other bearing foundation and for placement onto lower blocks in erecting the wall. Such blocks are also often further characterized by a frontal flat or decoratable surface and a flat planar top for receiving and bearing the next course of blocks forming the wall.
It is generally desired that retaining walls of the type described exhibit certain favorable characteristics, among which may be mentioned the ease with which the retaining wall can be assembled, the stability of the wall (that is, its ability to maintain structural integrity for long periods of time), and the ability of the wall to admit and disburse rainwater. Although retaining wall blocks commonly are supported vertically by resting upon each other, it is important that the blocks be restrained from moving outwardly from the earthen wall that they support.
Retaining wall blocks are an efficient material to use in constructing retaining walls, because they can easily be stacked side by side in sequential courses. While the faces of the blocks may have visually pleasing patterns, the edges of the blocks are nevertheless visible, particularly the continuous horizontal lines where the courses abut each other. As a result, even when the blocks have a patterned face, it is still apparent that the wall was constructed from blocks rather than natural stone. While the appearance of a natural stone wall is visibly appealing to some individuals, the construction of walls using natural stones is extremely labor intensive and expensive. It is therefore desirable to develop a retaining wall block having the advantage of ease of construction, stability, and lower cost, that more closely resembles a natural stone wall.